Welcoming Poverty into our Stories

From camera_rwanda

For far too long, our prosperity mindset has pushed poverty & homelessness out of our vision of what we should care about.  When I last lived in Texas, out then Senator Phil Gramm was fond of saying that "those in the wagon
should get out and help the rest of us pull the wagon". Sigh...

So it makes my soul soar to read this:

After years as 'dirty word,' poverty a campaign issue again

As this weaves into our stories again, welcoming in the stranger we have shut out - I rememebr the word of  Dr René Padilla:

“Poverty is powerlessness. It is about people being unable to meet their basic human needs. Most often this is due to a lack of opportunity in a society marked by oppression and injustice which has led to disempowerment. The poor and the non-poor are created in the image of God. They are designed to grow into mature human beings able to meet their own socioeconomic, personal, social, cultural and spiritual needs. Poverty is powerlessness to fulfil that God-give role.”